Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

vivatifosi

We're now up to four houses on our quest for rebanding. Two taken to tribunal and won, have just heard that we've won the second of our appeals that we haven't had to take to tribunal. Several more to go, but altogether good news...

Edited 6.30pm to say... make that 5! We've got another one, both informed today.

anteater

VOA turned down request for rebanding. Have been in the property for many years and they agreed to look at the case without arguing. I think that we made a mistake in putting in the request by telephone because the VOA asked specific questions so we didn't get the opportunity to put in all the evidence (other similar house bandings, house price evidence, etc).

The letter said there was no appeal although I think their reasoning is wrong (there are plenty of similar properties that are banded lower but the VOA's argument seems to be based double glazing & central heating we installed just after buying it in 1987 - but I don't think they increased the value of the property by enough to put it into Band .

Is there anywhere I can go from here? Can I still insist on going to a Tribunal?

Thanks

vivatifosi

Hi anteater,

The circumstances for requesting a tribunal are actually quite limited, as you've been in your house so long, you don't have an automatic right to one, but may be able to appeal off of the back of another tribunal in the area if one has been won on a comparable property in the last six months.

I would however write back and put you case in writing more firmly and ask them how they reached their decision. If you have additional information you need to make sure that they have it as they may not be assessing your house in full possession of the appropriate information.

guppy

I agree with vivatifosi entirely, while its a bit more work to write in, I believe its well worth it.

If you call up you will most likely get through to someone relatively junior, who may or may not be the person actually dealing with your case. You're therefore relying on them to make your point for you.

IMO its far better to set out all your reasons yourself and ask for a detailed explanation, otherwise you will most likely get a standard letter. Once your letter is sent in, there's nothing to stop you phoning and asking to speak to the person dealing with your case to further explain your points.

Finally, as others have mentioned (exvoperson for one) the Freedom of Information Act is a very powerful tool which you can use to get access to VO records (though not sale prices, unfortunately).

Good luck

autismmum

I GOT 10 PERCENT OFF MY COUNCIL TAX
, MY DS1 AND DS2 ARE AUTISTIC, AND ONE SON HAS TO HAVE SOLE USE OF A ROOM, OTHER THAN BEDROOM, IF YOU GIVE OVER A ROOM IN THIS WAY YOU GET A REDUCTION,
CARERS OF THE U K PHONE AND ASK.

I MUST BE THE ONLY 4 BED IN THE COUNTRY ON SUCH A LOW BILL.

vivatifosi

Hi autismmum,

That's great news, congratulations! Thanks for posting on this thread as going forward, if you aren't lurking here, we can always point people to your post and in your direction. I'm always learning new ways to reduce bills thanks to people's posts here, and its great to see another new one.

Did you also post on the autism support thread?

Thanks again!

mazdalittle

I appealed against my council tax banding group as I found out that virtually all the three bedroom houses on my side of the road were in A band and my 2 bedroom house was B band. My claim was rejected on the basis that my house has a small kitchen extension and with the comment that no one would be daft enough to alter a house that would reduce the value of a building!

I do feel victimised in the sense that all the A banded terraced houses are council owned and the very few B banded house are privately owned. My feeling is that all these house should be on the same band.

I did checked the valuation chart which showed my property to be worth £38,000 in 1991, but phone calls to estate agents who sold property's in the road in 1991, came up with higher figures.

Do you think I should pursue with this matter ?

winnanan

winnanan wrote: »

MoneySaving Newbie


Join Date: Mar 2008
Post Count: 2
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post



Confused and not sure what to do next! Yesterday I followed the advice on Martin's website and found out we are the only semi in our road on band D, the others are all C. However we've lived here for 20 years and had already built an extension by 1991. Many of the other houses have extensions too and some of them as large or even larger gardens too and garages which we don't and when i looked at house prices 2 of the four sold came out as band C prices in 91 and the other 2 as band D! Should I follow it up or not? Also we've recently had solar panels fitted so will they put up the band if they come to look at the house? Incidentally my husband has several times queried the band over the phone but we didn't know we were the only ones in D!! Any advice?
Stop press, after telling my hubby about it he said phone anyway & risk it, so I just did it. Nice lady at the valuations said it sounded as if we might have a case and she will look into it! Finger's xed!

Update to the above.
I had a letter today from the VOA and they are reducing our band to C!! Thankyou Martin and everyone else for all the info and encouragement! -No money yet but they are backdating to 1993 so hopefully we'll get a cheque soon! Yippee! So chuffed I couldn't wait to let you all know!
12/05/08 Cheque today for £1357.95 !! Now how do I go about claiming the interest?

meghanrose

could we get some advise please?
we are a family of 5 who live in a 3 bed house supplied by the county 'for the better performance' of my husbands job. we pay council tax on a house that has virtually no resale value as it is stuck inside the grounds of a large comprehensive school. i've searched the bands for the area, and apart from 1 or two houses in the street our house is situated in, all of them including ours are band E, but the caretaker of the other school who lives in a bungalow and a couple of houses in our street, are band D. Although we are on a street, we have no seperate access to the property, but have to enter the school grounds to enter or house, and we are the only house on our side of the road until you get to the end of the school grounds, some 500+ft.
We are also carers for our eldest son, who is disabled but not physically, yet when I asked for a rebate on our tax was told we couldn't get one as we pay 'below the current rate' for rent. there is talk amongst others in our profession about single status, which may mean us paying full market value in rent. my husband does not get a lot of pay, although he is in the top band for his profession and money is very tight, so a reduction in council tax would help a lot. does anyone think we have a case or should we just accept it for what it is?

gingercop

I have just been looking through some official documents as I am in the process of informing everyone of a name change due to my recent marriage. I have just found documentation regarding my current property.

I am the second owner of the property & there has been no building work by previous owner [or myself since] which would have increased banding when I purchsed it 2004

Documents I have found [with my land registry documents] say property was purchased in September 1996 for £67, 950 as a new build. So not sure how my banding can have been set at D [property would have needed to be worth £68,001 - £88,000 in 1991, 5 years before it was built]. I have used the Nationwide calculator which puts value of property in 1991 at £62,000.

Three similar properties in road [all 3 bedroom detached houses] are also in same band.

Has anyone had experience of getting their property rebanded in similar circumstances?